“You should be trying to work with me.“

They say once you have haters you’ve made it. Though many of you may not have heard of this upcoming “artist-rapper,” to already have diss tracks from other artists means he’s doing something right. Right? Right. Let’s review.

Meet $kinny– the self-proclaimed Jackie Robinson of Hip-Hop. The lively emcee recently sat down with The Source to speak on his move to the States to pursue his career, Ghetto Disneyland– his recent mixtape/album- & a slew of topics that will leave all of you wondering why you haven’t listened to him before.

The dreaded brethren has a pretty unique story. In 2000 him & his family moved to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, but were forced to move back after the tragic 9/11 attacks. Though most would look at the situation as a step back, $kinny remained unbothered- instead he finished high school in his home country & moved back, now residing in L.A.

As well as showing off his tattoos (some of which are portraits of Elvis & Tupac), $kinny let us in on his influences, which surprisingly includes electronic band Depeche Mode & the legendary Madonna. He even went on to talk about his family, who seem to have led him down this musical path- if your grandfather was a DJ you’d probably would have done the same.

The eccentric lyricist had a lot more to say, including why he doesn’t feel as if he’s just a rapper & why Ghetto Disneyland was really an album. ”I don’t even call it a mixtape. It’s an album, but I just wanna give it out for free,” he said.

Say no more. Watch the entire interview above. Ghetto Disneyland can be heard here.

-Kairi C. (@_findingforever)